HARRY ANGER,
1933-2017

Harry Anger, a former EVP at Polygram and Motown’s Chief Operating Officer who helped revitalize the label during the New Jack Swing era of the early 1990s, died 5/20 at his home in Las Vegas after a 20-plus year battle with leukemia. He was 84.

Anger contributed significantly to the careers of artists such as Boyz II Men, Eric Clapton, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, John Mellencamp, KISS and others.

Anger’s industry career started at RCA after which he went to Arista, working primarily in marketing. He became Executive Vice President at Polygram in 1987, heading to Motown in 1990, where he stayed for nearly five years and oversaw the label’s return to prominence with acts such as Johnny Gill, Boyz II Men, Stevie Wonder and Another Bad Creation.

He also oversaw the first exhaustive reissue program for Motown, executive producing the two compilations Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971 and 1972-1992.

Post Motown, Angler worked for Larry Rosen’s early Internet music operation N2K and had his own Northsound Music Group, which specialized in nature, world and relaxation music, before retiring in 2002.

The son of vaudevillians, Anger was also a pilot and baseball coach in Las Vegas.

A celebration of his life will be held 7/15. The Harry Anger Memorial Fund for leukemia and cancer research has been created in his honor at the T.J. Martell Foundation.